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White-tailed Deer Management Plan

Fire Island National Seashore's Final Deer Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (Final Plan/EIS) was developed in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), U.S. Department of Agriculture –Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (USDA), and with public involvement.

The Final Deer Plan/EIS sets forth an integrated management strategy that is necessary to protect the globally rare Sunken Forest threatened by deer (browse) and other natural areas on Fire Island, including the maritime forest at Carrington, Talisman, Blue Point, and Watch Hill/Wilderness; and, to maintain the historic landscape at the William Floyd Estate.

The Final Deer Plan/EIS shows the breadth of public and agency comments received, summarizes and provides the NPS response to substantive comments, and identifies the National Park Service (NPS) preferred alternative, Alternative D.

Alternative D calls for:

enhanced education and outreach

enhanced deer and vegetation monitoring

fencing of the historic core at the William Floyd Estate (approximately 80 acres)

a combination of sharpshooting (on NPS properties), capture and euthanasia of individual deer (where appropriate), and public hunting (within the Fire Island Wilderness only) to achieve the plan objectives (estimated at 20-25 deer per square mile)

the option for fertility control to maintain deer density when a fertility control agent which meets NPS criteria becomes available (these criteria may be found in the Final Deer Plan/EIS on pages 39-41, and more information on the development of these criteria may be found in Appendix E on page E-8. Additional information on fertility control may be found in Appendix D.